Friday, July 10, 2009

Personal note: I've been selling Revit and BIM for 5 years now and although I'm thrilled with this list, it can be very misleading. Just because a firm has seats of Revit doesn't necessarily mean they're using Revit actively. I can tell you that I've worked personally with some of the firms listed here and one very large firm has attempted only 1 Revit project and they have $9 million dollar errors and ommissions lawsuit against them for a horrific set of CDs on a project. They have Revit, but are doing all their work in AutoCAD. I hate to ever sound negative about BIM, but it's one of the frustrations I've been going through where firms bought Revit as part of their AutoCAD package because it was cheaper than upgrading to just AutoCAD, and they've yet to use Revit or even practice with it. Now is the time. When business picks up again, it's going to be the same excuse of "we don't have time to learn Revit". Ugh!Although I am thrilled with the intent of this article, I'm starting to see owners actually ask for proof of having done projects in BIM. This goes for architects and contractors. I've been working with a number of General Contractors who are all at different levels of BIM adoption and implementation. Owners are now actually asking to see your BIM resume of completed projects. This also includes integration of structural and MEP, so just doing the job in Revit Architecture and having engineers doing their part in AutoCAD isn't going to cut it much longer. Let's throw in the requirements for LEED and you're going to actually have to pay your lighting fixture reps to do daylighting analysis and not get their usual lighting fixture packages for free. The world is changing around us. For any of you who still are in denial about BIM, 3D, 4D and 5D, the list below should be a real wake up call. Although the economy sucks right now, we've turned the corner on the road to full BIM adoption. Dave Barista, BD+C Managing EditorJuly 8, 2009Building Design and Constructionhttp://www.bdcnetwork.com/article/CA6668193.html

The nation’s largest architecture, engineering, and construction companies are on the BIM bandwagon in a big way, according to Building Design+Construction’s first annual Top 170 BIM Adopters ranking, published as part of the 2009 Giants 300 survey. Of the 320 AEC firms that participated in Giants survey, 83% report having at least one BIM seat license in house, half have more than 30 seats, and nearly a quarter (23%) have 100-plus seats. In total, the Giants hold 28,174 BIM seats, with the average firm having 106 seats.As expected, design firms are the biggest adopters of BIM, representing 48 of the top 50. AECOM Technology Corp. and HDR Architecture hold the most BIM seats, each with 2,000, followed by Parsons Brinckerhoff (1,800), Gensler (1,320), and HOK (840). Editor's Note: Several firms, including Fluor Corp., report having an enterprise license for BIM-related software, and, therefore, could not provide accurate adoption numbers.Turner (#8 with 530 seats) and Mortensen Construction (#38 with 163 seats) are the only pure contractors to make the top 50. Other contractors to make the list are DPR Construction (#61 with 121 seats), McCarthy Holdings (#62 with 120 seats), Hensel Phelps Construction (#91 with 71 seats), JE Dunn Construction Group (#102 with 62 seats), and Ryan Companies US (#106 with 60 seats).BIM adoption seems to be slowing among the Giants, which is expected given the rough economic environment. Slightly more than half (51%) of the respondents have added or plan on adding BIM seat licenses in 2009, down from 63% in 2008. And the number of seats being purchased is expected to drop by 56% this year, from a total of 6,465 in 2008 to 2,837 in 2009. Stantec and Gensler are adding the most seats this year (250 and 199) and are two of only four firms adding more than 100 seats in 2009—compared to eight firms in 2008. Other firms active in BIM software acquisition this year are: Turner (adding 100 seats), URS Corp. (100), DPR Construction (90), KlingStubbins (75), and Dewberry (65).Here are the Top 170 BIM Adoptors for 2009: